The present invention relates to audio configuration for computer systems. More particularly, the invention relates to validating an audio configuration of a computer for computer telephony.
Conventional telephones operate using circuit-switched technology. The circuit-switched telephone backbone is composed of dedicated copper wires or fiber optic cables that are typically owned by the telephone companies. In general, the telephone companies charge telephone call fees, based on the duration of the call and the distance between the caller and receiver, that are designed to cover the costs for installing, expanding and maintaining the telephone backbone.
With packet-switched telephone systems, a speaker""s voice (or other data) is broken down and sent over a computer network as multiple packets. Computer telephony can offer significant cost savings because dedicated network connections are replaced by network connections shared among many users, which results in much more efficient use of bandwidth and reduced wiring costs. Additionally, in theory, computer telephony can offer easier administration.
In the past, the computer and network technologies had not advanced to the point where the quality of computer telephony approached the quality of conventional telephone systems. Therefore, the cost and convenience savings of computer telephony came at a price of lower quality. However, as computer and network technologies continue to improve, the quality differential is diminishing or is non-existent, and so computer telephony is becoming more and more prevalent.
One of the major problems facing computer telephony clients is that they are executing on computers with general purpose operating systems. These general purpose operating systems are designed to support a wide variety of applications so there are typically a very large number of audio configuration settings. Although the numerous audio configuration settings allow the computers to be very flexible and adaptable to a wide variety of applications, there is a considerable increase in complexity in audio configuration. Audio configuration errors and less-than-optimal configurations are common, which often results in a variety of audio quality problems that in turn impede the effectiveness of computer telephony systems.
The conventional solution to complex audio configuration of computer systems is to rely on information technology experts. The expert can set the audio configuration in person, give instructions to a user over the telephone or by e-mail, utilize an application sharing session, or the like. The expert can be employed by the company be an independent contractor, or be employed by a computer telephony vendor.
A major disadvantage of utilizing information technology experts for audio configuration is the high cost of employing the experts, which will inevitably be passed on to the companies that are utilizing the computer telephony systems. Additionally, these companies will be further frustrated by the difficulty in getting computer telephony to work correctly, as they are used to traditional telephones that were plugged in and simply worked.
Another solution to audio configuration complexities that does not have as high a cost is the use of documentation. Companies have attempted to document, such as on a web page, an application note or in a user manual, the audio configuration issues for computer telephony clients and suggested solutions. Unfortunately, many, if not most, users do not have the initiative or the time to utilize such documentation. Therefore, this low cost solution has achieved results that are far from satisfactory.
It would be beneficial to have innovative techniques for validating an audio configuration of a computer. Additionally, it would be beneficial to have techniques that automatically checked the audio configuration of a computer telephony system and indicated to the user the settings that should be changed to fix or improve audio quality.
The present invention provides innovative techniques for validating an audio configuration of a computer. In general, one or a series of audio configuration settings of the computer are retrieved and compared to a stored optimal setting or settings. A report can then be generated to a user that indicates the audio configuration settings that should be changed, which can be specifically optimized according to the specific hardware of the computer system. In this manner, users can quickly and efficiently verify the audio configuration of their computers. Some embodiments of the invention are described below.
In one embodiment, the invention provides a computer implemented method of validating an audio configuration of a computer. An audio configuration setting of the computer is retrieved. The retrieved audio configuration setting is compared to a stored optimal setting. If the audio configuration setting is not equal to the stored optimal setting, a report, indicating that the audio configuration setting of the computer is not optimal, is displayed to a user. The stored optimal setting can be a specific value or a range of values that can be stored locally on the computer or remotely on a network.
In another embodiment, the invention provides a computer implemented method of validating an audio configuration of a computer. The computer is examined to determine hardware of the computer. An audio configuration setting of the computer is retrieved. The audio configuration setting is compared to a stored optimal setting based on the hardware of the computer. If the audio configuration setting is not equal to the stored optimal setting, a report, indicating that the audio configuration setting of the computer is not optimal, is displayed to a user. Typically, the hardware of the computer is stored in a configuration database, such as a WINDOWS Registry. In preferred embodiments, the stored optimal setting is one that is optimal for computer telephony applications.
In another embodiment, the invention provides a computer implemented method of validating an audio configuration of a computer. Multiple audio configuration settings of the computer are retrieved. The audio configuration settings are analyzed. If the audio configuration setting is not optimal in relation to one or more of the other audio configuration settings, a report, indicating that an audio configuration setting of the computer is not optimal, is displayed to a user. The audio configuration settings can be analyzed by computing a Boolean calculation, numerical calculation or the like.